Staying cozy when it's crazy cold out

How to prepare for the next time the temps drop

It’s been quite a week, weather-wise, in my neck of the woods. With temperatures in the low single digits and high winds knocking those temps down into the near-double-digits-below-zeroes, it’s no surprise my kids had three - yes, three - snow days (on top of a school holiday, no less).

But don’t think I’ve been snuggled up under a blanket at home since the cold set in: I actually spent the weekend in northern Michigan (yes, I went even further north in this madness!) dropping my son off at college.

I’ll leave the hairy details of the drive home to your imagination. Just know that it took me twice as long as it usually does, and necessitated an unexpected hotel stay in the middle of the trip when it seemed unwise to go any further. My knuckles were about as white as the snow from all that steering-wheel-gripping.

Since I arrived home on Monday evening, though, I have been mostly working on the sofa, under an enormous fuzzy blanket, hot cup of tea at hand. And when it came to recording this week’s episode of The Tea’s Made, it turned out all I wanted to talk about were warm, cozy things. So I did: this episode is full of chatter about everything from DIY rice packs to bean soup to seasonal teas.

That doesn’t mean I’ve been holed up all week, though! I went for a tromp behind our house on the coldest day this week, and found that it was decidedly not terrible…mostly because I dressed properly for the weather, but also because I decided to channel my inner sisu and embrace fruliftsliv to enjoy winter the way Nordic folk do.

More and more these days, when I’m stuck waffling between two choices, I ask myself a simple question: “Do I want to be the kind of person who would do X, or Y?” Most of the time, my first knee-jerk answer makes the choice clear. And it seems that in the winter, every time I’ve gotten past my inertia enough to pull on my boots and head out the door, I end up glad I made that choice.

Of course, life is also full of opportunities to snuggle on the sofa, and I want to be the kind of person who recognizes when the time is right for that, too.

Mostly, I just try to stay open to it all: the bracing winter air and the fuzzy blankets, the hot cup of tea or the cold shock of seven below zero.

Restraint and indulgence, effort and rest. I hope you’re finding both in their appropriate-for-the-person-you-want-to-be proportions this week, friends.

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While I’ve got you: a couple of changes to my publishing schedule!

First, I’ve been absolutely loving our So-Slow Book Club, and I hope you are too. In order to give me more time to write those posts - and for you all to receive them at a more digestible time of the week - they will now be arriving in your inbox first thing Saturday mornings.

Second, on Thursdays, I’ll be posting an accompaniment essay to the latest episode of The Tea’s Made podcast, like I did in this post. And on the last Thursday of each month, I’ll be posting an exclusive episode right here, for paid subscribers only.

Other posts that aren’t either a book club entry or podcast episode will probably land on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, but I’m keeping those loose for now. The community has also been more and more active in our chat threads - I’d love to see you there!

If you’re shaking your head doubtfully and saying “That sounds like a lot of email…”, just know that you can change the way you receive The Tea’s Made by going to the “settings” page under your profile in the upper-right-hand corner.

That’s all for today, friends, but I’d love to hear from you! What topics would you like me to cover here or in the podcast? Just hit “reply” to this email, shoot me a note at meaganfrancis@gmail.com, or drop a comment below and let me know.